Masdar, a United Arab Emirates-based renewable energy company, plans to build a 15 MW solar power project in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Once construction on the project is complete, the Nouakchott solar power plant will be owned and operated by Societe Mauritanienne de l'electricite, the government-owned electric utility in Mauritania.
The plant is expected to deliver 10% of electricity capacity in the country. The project is the first utility-scale solar power installation in Mauritania, Masdar notes. The country currently faces severe energy shortages and has a low electrification rate of 60%.
‘Mauritania has some of the highest levels of solar radiation in the world, making it an ideal place for solar power installations,’ notes H.E. Taleb Ould Abdivall, Mauritania's Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Mines.
